Monday, February 22, 2016

Senators and Their Oath to Uphold the Constitution

Murray Sabrin sent the following letter to the editor of The Record:

Regarding "Balking senators are breaking their oaths," (Opinion, Page 1, Feb. 21). Prof. Alexander makes an obvious valid point; President Obama has the constitutional prerogative to nominate a new justice to Supreme Court because of the death of Justice Scalia. The Senate, however, also has a constitutional prerogative-- to Advice and Consent President Obama's nomination as outlined in Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution.

However, Prof. Alexander makes an egregious omission in his analysis of the constitutional process, namely, that presidents and members of Congress from both major parties and their predecessors throughout the history of the Republic have failed to keep their oath of office.

In Article II, Section 8 the Constitution spells out the authorized duties of the federal government.  In short, the federal government is not authorized to spend the people's money on social insurance, healthcare, housing, education, corporate welfare and dozens of other programs that have been passed by Congress for more than 200 years. In addition, the federal government is not authorized to be the policeman of the world or to engage in "regime change," which many of our presidential candidates are eager to undertake.

If we are to restore our constitutional republic, then presidents and members of Congress have to uphold their oath of office, which is spelled out very clearly in the Constitution.

1 comment:

  1. "If we are to restore our constitutional republic, then presidents and members of Congress have to uphold their oath of office, which is spelled out very clearly in the Constitution."

    If thats the case, we're screwed!!

    ReplyDelete